Virginia A. Kurata enlisted in the Women Marines in September 1943 and served until the end of 1945. She did her training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and she attended quartermaster school in Quantico, Virgina. Interviewed by Deborah Pye on Sept. 30, 2007, Kurata talked about military experiences in the Second World War. She was born May 25, 1922, in Morgantown, West Virgina, but she grew up in Washington, Pennsylvania. She graduated from high school in Avella, Pennsylvania, in 1940. She held several jobs before her enlistment. while she was working in the office of steel mill, she met her husband to be who was of Japanese descent. She references the concern about her dating a Japanese man but also the issues his family faced during the war. They were married January 14, 1946. They moved to Lawrence when he was offered a job as a professor in the Kansas University School of Engineering. The 2005 Kansas Legislature passed a bill funding the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program. This transcript is from one of the community institutions receiving grants. The transcript of the interview is presented here; the original video copy of the interview is available through the Watkins Community Museum of History (Lawrence) and through the Kansas State Historical Society.

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Virginia A. Kurata enlisted in the Women Marines in September 1943 and served until the end of 1945. She did her training at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and she attended quartermaster school in Quantico, Virgina. Interviewed by Deborah Pye on Sept. 30, 2007, Kurata talked about military experiences in the Second World War. She was born May 25, 1922, in Morgantown, West Virgina, but she grew up in Washington, Pennsylvania. She graduated from high school in Avella, Pennsylvania, in 1940. She held several jobs before her enlistment. while she was working in the office of steel mill, she met her husband to be who was of Japanese descent. She references the concern about her dating a Japanese man but also the issues his family faced during the war. They were married January 14, 1946. They moved to Lawrence when he was offered a job as a professor in the Kansas University School of Engineering. The 2005 Kansas Legislature passed a bill funding the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program. This transcript is from one of the community institutions receiving grants. The transcript of the interview is presented here; the original video copy of the interview is available through the Watkins Community Museum of History (Lawrence) and through the Kansas State Historical Society.